Issam Bader’s public art brought ceramics, relief and architectural form into places of civic and everyday life. His murals extended his practice beyond galleries and private collections, allowing art to become part of Ramallah’s shared visual environment. The records below distinguish documented historical information from present-day locations and conditions that still require verification.
Ramallah Municipality mural
A detailed account published in Shu’un Filastiniyya in 1982 describes Bader’s commission for the eastern wall of the Ramallah Municipality building. It records an architectural composition combining iron and ceramic forms against a marble ground.
The mural used human figures, geometric arrangements and symbolic forms to address displacement, attachment to the land and collective Palestinian life. Rather than functioning as decoration alone, the work connected the municipality’s civic role with the historical experiences of the people it served.
PASSIA describes the work as a bronze mural adorning the municipality façade. This differs from the materials recorded in the 1982 account and may describe its metal component more generally. The original scan, municipal records and physical work should be examined before establishing a final materials description.
- Artist
- Issam Bader
- Original location
- Ramallah Municipality building, eastern exterior wall
- Materials recorded in 1982
- Iron and ceramic forms against a marble ground
- Alternative description
- PASSIA describes it as a bronze mural on the municipality façade
- Documentary date
- Described in a journal published in January–February 1982
- Completion date
- Not yet independently confirmed
- Present location
- A 2019 recollection reports that the work was transferred to the Ramallah Cultural Palace; its present installation and condition require verification
Other documented public-art sites
Al-Ayyam newspaper headquarters
Biographical and later written sources attribute mural work at the Ramallah headquarters of Al-Ayyam newspaper to Bader. The date, dimensions, materials and present condition have not yet been established through an institutional record.
Ramallah public hospital
PASSIA records that Bader donated murals to Ramallah public hospital. Further documentation is needed to determine their number, location within the hospital, materials, date of installation and whether they remain in place.
Grand Park Hotel
Bader is also credited with mural work at the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah. Liana Badr’s later recollection expresses uncertainty about the fate of works made for hotel settings, making photographs, architectural records and testimony from former staff especially important.
Public art as part of Bader’s practice
These commissions demonstrate how Bader moved between painting, ceramics, metal, relief and architecture. His public works were conceived for specific buildings and audiences, connecting artistic production with municipal life, healthcare, journalism and public hospitality.
This work also reflects his wider belief that art should not remain confined to private studios or occasional exhibitions. His murals, teaching, publishing and establishment of Gallery 79 formed interconnected ways of making art accessible within Palestinian society.
Documenting movement and condition
A public artwork can pass through several distinct stages: its design and commission, fabrication, original architectural installation, removal, relocation, restoration or loss. A photograph of a detached panel therefore documents a different historical moment from a photograph of the work in its original building.
Each mural record should eventually include its commissioning body, completion date, materials, dimensions, original location, later movements, current location, conservation condition and photographs from every documented stage.
Documentation still needed
- Original photographs of the Ramallah Municipality mural in place
- Municipal commissioning and installation records
- Verification of its reported transfer to the Cultural Palace
- Current condition photographs of each surviving mural
- Records from Al-Ayyam, Ramallah Hospital and the Grand Park Hotel
- Dates, dimensions and full materials descriptions
- Family photographs, drawings, correspondence or preparatory studies